After yesterday I knew it was going to be impossible to follow up the magnitude of the day, but Daron and I had an objective that was on a similar level......the Burbolator Shoulder. We got up to "the bowl" right at 9 am and made our way over to the Lincoln chair. The initial plan was to ride a number of lines on Anderson Ridge (the wart, burb shoulder, general principle, etc). The visibility wasn't ready to let us get after it so we did a couple of inbounds runs. We both agreed that our bodies/legs couldn't handle too much more of the chopped up snow. Luckily for us the visibility cracked on the third lap up Lincoln and we scurried over to the backcountry gate quickly. We were definitely the first ones out of bounds. We traversed over to the exposed, cornice-laden edge of Anderson Ridge. Multiple technical difficulties arise almost immediately. First, you have to get into the run without breaking off a car sized block of cornice and creating an avalanche. Second you have to know where the hell you're going once you do drop in since there is quite a bit of exposure (riding a 50' wide ridge basically w/ hundreds of feet dropping away on both sides). Lastly you have to hope that the snow holds the weight of multiple skiers. Daron had me strap into my board and create an anchor by sitting in the snow and burying my board in as well. We then used both of his poles to create a makeshift "rope" so he could peer over the edge, check the cornice situation, assess our line, and create an entrance. After poking his pole as deep as it would go a few times he gave a few stomps on the edge. Nothing. He has me scoot forward more toward the edge (which looks like you're on the edge of the world) and we repeat the process. He seemed satisfied with the cornice situation and waited for a window of visibility (pretty foggy) to drop in. It came and he dropped straight into the top face. After a few cautious jump turns he made his way down to the next rollover. I see some smaller slough-a-lanches roll over into the gullies on each side as well as over the next roll. The vis got worse for a second and he paused before dropping into the last pitch. I waited with cautious optimism as he rode out of sight before shooting out the bottom like a cannon. My turn. I see a chunk of blue sky coming through the clouds and take a few deep breaths before dropping in. I point it straight into the top face before throwing a couple fast confident turns. Just before I got to the bench I had the "look behind you" feeling and quickly jerked around. Nothing sliding down towards me....OK, sweet. Just as I'm getting ready to drop the last steep crux I see something out of the corner of my eye. It's the whole Burbolator gully avalanching. I was unaware that as soon as I dropped in I broke off a 1'+ slab of wind loaded snow that was slowly picking up steam while I was boarding the top pitch. My heart rate quickened as I watched it dump out the bottom of the gully to my L. As soon as it stopped I dropped in and made short work of the last crux before doing mach 9 out the bottom. This is where my day sucked. As I'm running out the "easy" terrain I hit something buried in the snow (likely a boulder since we got 5' of snow this past week). A loud CRACK ripples through the air as I'm shot into the air and onto my face. Immediate intense pain emanated through my R ankle. After a minute I get stood back up on board and head down to the trees where Daron was watching. We share a few nervous laughs looking up at the 1000-1200' run we just did. We change over to skin mode and make our way out the Meadow and up Roller Pass to Lunch Rock midway up Mt Judah. We change over and drop back into the ski area before calling it a day. I'm napping within the hour. Sooo much physical expenditure this past week (as well as mental). Later on in the evening Daron and I hit up Trio Wine Bar in downtown Truckee. Anne Marie alerted Daron as to their going out of business, must drain all the beer and wine (reportedly for free) scenario. We headed down there and ran into the usual local gang- Steve, Kevin, Suzie, Nicole, Neva, Emily (Bozak's GF), Glen Paulson (who offered to fly Daron to the E. side of the Sierras for a day trip the next day), Anne Marie, and many others. There was open mic all night that was cool, especially since the "bar" was really like a big comfortable living room w/ lots of couches and recliners. If only my ankle didn't kill I'd have a bunch of fun options for the weekend, including a trip to Bishop to climb and bag a big peak w/ Daron, or down to S. Lake Tahoe w/ Warren and Rob to ski and see Les Claypool. Then there's that bike ride Nate Dawg wants to do on the S. Yuba trail. Life is good!! Pic descriptions- 1. Pic taken previously; we rode the line just to the R of the huge cornice that is to the L of the rider on top. 2. Anderson Ridge with our turns barely discernible 3. If you look carefully you can see the fracture line shooting up and R from the drop in zone.
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